Rocker fixtures of various forms have been heretofore used, particularly in furniture for office use, and examples may be found in U.S. Pat. No. 2,463,257, issued to M. Fox on Mar. 1, 1949, and U.S. Pat. No. 3,672,721, issued to P. J. Williams on June 27, 1972. In the Fox patent, for example, a head is secured to the upper end of a post, the head having a portion pivotally connected to the bottom of a chair seat. A bell crank is pivotally connected to the head and has one arm connected to the bottom of a chair seat and another arm in engagement with one end of a compression spring. This general construction has been widely used but its tilting action was tiring to the user since weight had to be constantly applied to the chair seat and back to hold the seat in a selected tilted position.
A later Fox patent, U.S. Pat. No. 3,053,570, and a patent to Underdown, U.S. Pat. No. 3,190,693, disclose sheet-metal rockers between the chair base and seat and these constructions are relatively expensive and subject to noisy rocker action.
My improved rocker fixture is relatively low in cost of manufacture, is noiseless and eliminates the feeling of being pushed into an upright position by spring action.
The components of my fixture may be formed of relatively light-guage sheet metal, and include a head bracket secured to the upper end of the seat post and a bell crank lever, both bracket and lever being pivotally mounted in spaced relation on a channel member which is fixed to the underside of the chair seat. The bracket and lever have cooperating parts which slidingly engage each other during rocking action of the chair.